Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Near Santa Elena, Jaén, Andalusia
What happened
King Alfonso VIII of Castile, with King Peter II of Aragon and King Sancho VII of Navarre, led a Christian army against the Almohad caliph Muhammad al-Nasir. After the Almohads defeated Alfonso at Alarcos in 1195 and took Salvatierra Castle in 1211, Pope Innocent III called a crusade. A local shepherd guided Alfonso's army through a mountain pass in the Sierra Morena, so they surprised the Almohad camp. In the hard fighting that followed, the Christian knights broke the Almohad lines and the caliph fled.
Why it matters
Why it matters: The defeat sped up the decline of the Almohad Caliphate in Spain. It opened the way for the Christian kingdoms to move south into al-Andalus.
What came next
Castile soon took the towns of Baeza and Úbeda. King Ferdinand III later captured Córdoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248.
Did you know?
A famous story says the caliph's guards were chained together, but it probably comes from a mistranslation of a word meaning 'packed closely together'.
Timeline
- 1195The Almohads defeat Alfonso VIII at Alarcos.
- 1211Caliph al-Nasir captures Salvatierra Castle.
- 16 July 1212The Christian kings defeat the Almohads at Las Navas de Tolosa.
- 1236Ferdinand III captures Córdoba.
- 1248Ferdinand III captures Seville.